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Category Archives: 1980-1989

Practicing Law July 1986

Here I am in the summer of ‘86 at counsel table in one of the big arraignment courts in the Criminal Courts Building in downtown Los Angeles. I was a deputy public defender, and I was delighted to be getting paid to cross-examine cops. Not much more than a year later, I left that job [...]

Venerable Coffee Mug

Coffee mugs are some of the most common drug paraphernalia around. Here we have a friendly, feline-oriented mug that dates from 1980. Today, 28 years later, you can see that the mug is doing its usual splendid job: exploiting the forces of gravity to keep hot coffee contained within its walls. You can also see [...]

RIP Professor Whitebread

Charles Whitebread died a few days ago at the age of 65. He never smoked cigarettes but lung cancer killed him anyway. I knew him at USC and in the bar review business.
Professor Whitebread was one of the best lecturers I ever watched and listened to. He joined the faculty at the USC Law School [...]

 
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US Festival - May 1983

It’s been 25 years since the second US Festival. I had just finished my second year at the USC School of Law and was very much in the mood for big crowds and loud music.
The US Festival was a three-day show. Larry and I went to days two and three, making our way to San [...]

Kill Your Television

This picture was taken in 1988, twenty years ago, at UC Berkeley, bastion of free speech. Some of America’s smartest and most talented college kids thought this was a practical way to deal with the TV problem.
Alexis and I grew up in Hollywood. Our family has been connected to the entertainment business for more than [...]

X Ticket Stub 1980

X was, and remains, one of the finest bands to come out LA. I have seen them many times over the years, at places like Madam Wong’s West. Here’s a ticket stub from a show they put on at the Santa Monica Civic back in 1980. You’ll notice that this was a general admission show. [...]

Law School Doodles 1983

25 years ago today, I was a second year law student at the University of Southern California. Here is what was on my mind as I sat in one of the big amphitheater classrooms. A typed translation of the scribbling follows, below.

“I sold pot in the U.S. A quarter ounce. It cost me 40 years [...]

Pearce Assassinated 1980

Today is the 28th anniversary of my assassination. Fortunately, since I was raised by cats, I have more than one life to give for school and country.

Joan Pearce 1981

Joan Pearce died three years ago today. Here is a picture of her that my dad took in May 1981 at the Renaissance Faire in Agoura, California.